A Kuwaiti minister has blasted employees who take time off work for their mid-morning snacks and leave people waiting for services or for their papers to be processed.

“How can employees enjoy their food when they know there are making life difficult for people waiting for them?” Hind Al Subaih, the planning and development minister, asked as she made an unannounced visit to a service centre.

The minister was clearly upset not to find employees at their desk and was reportedly told they were having a mid-morning food break.

“We do need to change this culture, from insulting people and wasting their time to serving them. We are here to serve people, and those who provide the best services are the best employees,” she said. Al Subaih added that she was alarmed with the growing tendencies in several ministries to humiliate people seeking services.

There is an urgent need to improve the quality of providing services, the minister said, adding that she totally rejected the emerging phenomenon of carelessness about people’s needs. Al Subaih said that more laws and regulations were needed to ensure that people’s needs are met without resorting to exceptions. She said that she was opposed to any form of exception or derogation in public services, even in the social assistance field.